Scalise: Americans Should Be United Against Terrorism

WASHINGTON, D.C.—House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) joined Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), Congressman Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), and Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) at today’s leadership press stakeout to discuss the latest developments on Iran’s continued aggression towards the United States. Whip Scalise called for Republicans and Democrats to come together in support of our Commander in Chief’s bold actions to defend our country and make the world a safer place by taking out a brutal terrorist. Whip Scalise reaffirmed that the United States will stand up to terrorists who want to kill Americans, and highlighted how disappointing it is that Democrats are trying to make this partisan.

“I want to thank Dan Crenshaw and Brad Wenstrup for their service to our country, the things they did to help defend our freedoms, and to all of the men and women who are defending our freedoms today, and especially for those who died or were severely injured because of brutal terrorists like Soleimani. I want to thank them for their service. And I want to commend President Trump for standing up to those terrorists, like Soleimani, and saying, ‘No longer is America going to stand by and let brutal terrorists kill Americans.’ Not only killing Americans in the past, but plotting to kill more Americans. Everybody knows his history: it was under the Obama administration where they deemed him a terrorist. This isn’t anything new. The fact that he was finally taken out is something that you’ve seen bipartisan support for, not just Republicans. Go look at the comments of President Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, or Susan Rice, or so many others who recognize what Soleimani represented, and that this action was long overdue.

“And just like when [Republicans] were in the majority when President Obama took out Osama bin Laden, we supported that action. It was the right thing to do when President Obama gave that command. Just by the same token, it was the right thing to do when President Trump gave the command to take out Soleimani. We are a safer world because a brutal terrorist is gone from this planet, a terrorist who killed hundreds of Americans and was planning to kill even more. And so, it shouldn’t become partisan. It’s very disappointing to see some in the Democrat leadership here in the House trying to criticize those actions that kept America safer, using some of the same talking points that are coming out of Tehran, and now talking about changing the War Powers Act to further limit the ability for any President of the United States to defend this country.

“I would suggest to Speaker Pelosi, go back and look at the legislation that then-Senator Joe Biden filed in 1995 to ensure that a president would have the full ability to protect America, especially against terrorists, people like Soleimani. And maybe he’s changing his tune because he’s a candidate for president now, but he should go read the legislation he filed back in the 1990s, when he was a United States Senator. And so, hopefully, during a time like this, we can all come together, not as Republicans and Democrats, but as Americans who recognize that a brutal terrorist who killed hundreds of Americans and was planning to kill even more is gone from this planet because of the action, the bold action of President Trump. It’s time to be united in that.”

On impeachment:

“And then, of course, if you look at the other things that are going on around the world, it’s unfortunate that, as we start this new year, Speaker Pelosi is not using this majority to tackle the tough issues that are facing hardworking families, like working with Republicans to lower drug prices, to secure our border, to make sure our troops have all the tools they need to do their job safely in defending our freedoms. But, instead, you still hear them talking about impeachment. It’s still all about a personal dislike of a president who was duly elected in 2016. And they’re spending all of their time even now, in this new year, talking about trying to reverse the results of the 2016 election or trying to stop him from winning in 2020, instead of working with all of us to tackle these serious issues that face our country. We’ll continue focusing on those issues, and hopefully we could start getting some action and moving on the things that matter to the hardworking families of this great country.”